Wheel lock



J. B. JOHNS WHEEL LOCK Mar. 27, 1923.

Filed Mar. 11, 1922 5 sheets-sheet 1 RM mJ m5 l r J. B. JOHNS Mar. 27, 1923.

WHEEL LOCK Filed Mar. 11, 1922 5 sheets-sheet 2.

5; INVENTOR kill? 5. (Tuba? ATTORNEYS WITNESSES Mar. 27, 1923. 1,450,153

J. B. JOHNS I WHEEL LOCK Filed Mar. 11, 1922 5 sheets-sheet 3 7/////,%IIW//////4 IlMlllllllllllllllllllll 7 llVVE/VTOR Jam 5. 17571216 B, M ATTORNEYS Patented Mar. 27, 1923.

UNITED STATES JOHN 18. oans, or marz pan, on c.

WHEEL Loon.

, Application filed March 11, 1922; Serial 1 0. 542,985.

To all whom it may con-cam Be it known that I, JoHN B. JoHNs, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Warren, in the county of Trumbull and State of Ohio,have invented a new and Improved Wheel Lock, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to a lock, and aims to provide a device of this nature primarily adapted to be associated with a wheel, and more particularly a steering wheel such as is utilized in connection with motor vehicles, although it is not necessarily limited to this particular adaptation.

It is an object of this invention to provide a device of the character stated which shall be in the natureof a permutation look, so that a person authorized to actuate the wheel will not find itnecessaryto employ and carry keys'to release or set thelo ck, incident to the fact that the necessary combination may be carried in the mind of the operator.

A further object of this inventionis that o'fconstructing a lock of theltype specified which shall be extremely simpleiin construction, and in which it will be impossible for an unauthorized person to actuate the wheel without knowledge of the necessary combination serving-to effect a release of the zlock parts.

Still further objects'of this invention will become apparent in the annexed specification, and taken in connection with the drawin s, which latter illustrate practical ,em- 35 bodiments of the'same, andin which;

igure 1 is a vplan view o*f;tl1e-,s.teering wheel and having my improved type of-lock associated :therewith.

Figure 2 is a-tfragmentary view of certain vof the parts as shown in Figure- 1,; but .having certain o fath'e parts removed to 1 disclose underlying construction.

i-Figure is a ;transverse "sectional .view Qf the parts asshown inFigures Land 2. V

:Figure 74 and Figure 5 are sectional plan views taken in the direction. of the ,arrows I indicated-in iFiguret3.

Figure 116 is an enlarged sectional side view of the partsias sh'own :Figures' 1-. to-:5.

Figure .7 isaaview similar to liigureco but showing a-slightly adifl'erentform of con- -istructio nthan ithatillustrated in -the::figures I aforementioned; and also showing parts in tl1ei-r released position.

' of construction.

Figure 8 is' agperspectiveiviewvoia riot-ail Figure 9 is a View of the device asshown in Figure 7, and i l :Figure 10 is a sectional side view of oneof the locking elements utilized in connection with the structure shown iii Figures 7 andZQ.

It will be seen reference being .had to Figure 1 that I have illustrated aste ering wheel including a conventional ring. which issupported :by spokes 1 6; and is carried by the post casing 1-7, enclosing a steering post 18.

Contrary to conventional construction, however, it will be noted lthatintlie embodiment illustrated I have provided .nthc spokes 16 with an enlarged portion 19,.and tliisenlarged portion carries ithetmechanismewhi'ch effects the locking operation. iElilgsgit ,be seen as in Figure 1 v thatstheexterior or- .tion of the :lock presents iaiseries o'foperating dials 20 which maybe carried of the spokes K16 and these dialsare proyided with knobs .21 by means of .whi'chithey be .rotated to bring atheir into alignment with suitable indicating means 23.

Nowwith a view of conplingsthe Awheelito the post .18 "it willzble seen, regtenence .gbeing ha d to Figures 4, 5 and ifi thalt gfllpiniZfiS carried byLthe body ,oifs-theiwhneliand extends through an opening-25 -initheipostifif olhus it :will be obviousithat .uponwtheiwheelubeing rotated "the post will yturncvvithltheisame to effect a steering .ofthe vehicle.

However as in Figurefi it awillibe obvious that :the pinmay be retracted and when the parts are in this positionzit een that the -:.e n-.d of (the. said pin-twill ,not citend through ithe opening 7; in the )post 18, and iaccordinglythe wheel may; rotate ,freelymith 1 respect to the post thus,-preventingiany'steelr- ,ing of the vehicle.

To p id means serving to met i al ly preve retraction or $Qieetion ,nfith pin it will .;be. noted that rLeniployg a' ringg26 ,3;I1d;tl1e:pln:24:zlS fQnmQd-.-With}@ downw 5QXtBILdlDgpolitiQIlgWWhiQh i i 1 pm ;t01,-:e .ther ideioftthe r ngflfil thus the-pin being mowed into which it has'z beenieigtended. A a the vring :26: is formedliwith ia slo 28-iozf a depth ermitting ofgthe lpassagebfithe dgwn- ,wandly i extending portioni27i'tif al e in, thering mayz be moazcdi'by ahan dle soctht ,theaslot 28 may ibeabrou'ght into; hidf travel of the 1 the Q-LlOWDMQIfQlY atcndingcpgrticnethrecffreely moved to effect the result desired.

To now provide a structure which will normally preclude of the wheel being coupled to and detached-from the post in the manner aforementioned it will be noted that each of "thedials ,hasi secured to it a stem and :each of these stems fixedly carries a gear 3l-having an'oil-set portion '32. Also it will be seen that the number of teeth 33, in each of the gears 31, varies as in Figure 2, for a purpose hereinafter stated, and an opening 34 is provided through the periphery of each of these gears. The ring-26 lies adjacent to the gears 31 and carries ears 35 which travel in a path interrupted by the gears aforementioned so that by virtue of thewfact thatthese ears are fixedly secured .to the ring the latter is incapable of being ,moved incident to the fact that the said cars 25 will engage the. gears.

Now in operation it will be seen assuming 1 thatthe parts'are in the position illustrated I in Figure-7, that an operator may effect a coupling of the 'wheel :to: the post 18 by .simply z-actuating the knobs 21,- and conse- Jquently-the dials 20'so-that a certain graduation-22 of each of the latter corresponds with the proper indicating mark 23'. When the parts are in this position (Figure 5 the ring 26 may readily be turned bymeans of :itshandle 29 incident to the fact that each of the 'ears '35 lies'adjacent to the opening ;;.34" of each of the gears 31.

Thus the ring maybe'turnedto bring theslot28 into alignment with the portion 27 of the pin 24: and the latter may be projected subsequent to W-lllCh the ring may again be turned to its normal position to prevent an accidental'retraction of the pin.

s -proper "combination to effect the proper "However assuming that a person lacks the setting of the-dials 20 it'will be -obvious that 'hewill'be incapable of bringing the openings 34 into proper position with respect to the f'ears 35. The purpose of the teeth 33 :WlllIlOW be obvious incident to the fact that "ity-wilhbe impossible for an unauthorized operator to press against the handle 29 and retract each otthe dials individually until 5 he feels that no more resistance is offered, to'the proposed turning of the ring 26.

'-More'p-articularly thise'ffect is to be prediz'catedto the fact that the instant that the handle is actuated to efiect a movement of the r ng-26, the ears 35 carried by the latter Wlll come into contact with the teeth 5 33 of the gears and thusprevent a rotation of the dial, Also incident to the fact that the-number of teeth'on different gears varies it will be understood that these teeth will not register with the indicating marks 22 appearing upon the face of the dials 20, and so it will be also impossible for an unauthorized operator to set the dials properly by process of elimination. v

Thus it will be understood that the ob} ects of this invention vare accomplished, and it will also be appreciated that the teeth may be formed either upon the exterior of the gears as in Figures 1 to 8, or upon'the 1nterior of the gears as in Figures 9 and 10. In this latter form it will be noted that gears 36 are provided, which gears are formed with a flanged periphery 37 having inwardly extending teeth 38, this flange bemg 'interrupted by an opening as at 39. Thus in this type of lock the operation is in all respects similar to that'aforementioned, incident to w the fact that if an unauthorized operator brin s a rotational force upon the ring' 26 unti? such time as the cars 35 carried by the latter do not meet with resistance, or in other words are alignedwith the openings- 39 of the gears, these ears will engage the teeth 38, as in Figure 9 and prevent a turmng of thedials and gears carried-thereby;

From the foregoing it will be appreciated .that this invention will accomplish the results desired incident to the fact that it will be virtually impossible-for an unauthorized person to eflect acoupling of the steering wheel with the post without previous knowledge of the necessary combination which resorted to without in the least departing from the scopeof my claims which'are;

1. A lock including in combination a post, a wheel carried by said post and normally rotatable with I respect thereto, said post being formed with anopening, a pin slidably carried by said wheel, said pin being adapted to be extendedinto' said opening whereby to couple said wheel and post, a ring adapted to lie adjacent to said pin whereby to normally prevent a movement of the latter, means for deliberately moving said ring, and a lock including ears carried bysaidring, androtatable' members 'positioned adjacent to said ears, said members being formed with slots adapted to accommodate said ears. I

2. A look including in combination a post, a wheel carried by said post and normally rotatable f with respect thereto, said post being formed with an opening, a pin slida bly carried by said wheel, said pin being adapted to be extended into said opening whereby to couplesaid wheel and post, a ring adapted to lie adjacent to said pin whereby to normally prevent a movement of the latter, means for deliberately move ai r ng, and a la k issled eg ears carried by said ring, rotatable members positioned adjacent to said ears, said members being formed with slots adapted to accommodate said ears, and a series of teeth formed in said members.

3. A lock including in combination a post, a wheel carried by said post and normally rotatable with respect thereto, said post being formed with an opening, a pin slidably carried by said wheel, said pin being adapted to be extended into said opening whereby to couple said wheel and post, a ring adapted to lie adjacent to said pin whereby to normally prevent a movement of the latter, means for deliberately moving said ring, a lock including ears carried by said ring, rotatable members positioned adjacent to said ears, said members being formed with slots adapted to accommodate said ears, a series of teeth formed in said members, and dials coupled to said members.

4:. A look including a dial, a stem secured to said dial, a gear carried by said stem, said dial being provided with graduations teeth forming a part of said gear, said teeth being interrupted by a slot, and detent means for the lock including a member movable in a fixed path, said path including said slot in a certain angular adjustment with said gear; the number of teeth on said gear varying with respect to the number of graduations on said dial.

5. A look including a plurality of dials, graduations carried by said dials, and an indicating mark for each of said dials, a stem secured one to each of said dials, a gear secured one toeach of said stems, teeth forming a part of said gears, the number of teeth in each gear varying with respect to the number in an adjacent gear.

6. A lock including a plurality of dials, graduations carried by said dials, and an indicating mark for each of said dials, a stem secured one to each of said dials, a gear secured one to each of said stems, teeth forming a part of said gears, the number of teeth in each gear varying with respect to the number in an adjacent gear, but all dials carrying graduations similarly spaced aligned with respect to the graduations carried by the dial.

JOHN B. JOHNS. 

